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Using Lean Process Improvement to Enhance Safety and Value

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Value-Based Approaches to Spine Care

Abstract

The Toyota Production System (TPS) successfully maximized value in the car manufacturing industry through the application of standard work principles and continuous process improvement, or kaizen. By applying these same principles to the healthcare industry, institutions and individual care providers can achieve similar improvements in the value of patient care delivered. The translation of lean manufacturing principles to simple healthcare tasks has a well-demonstrated history of effectiveness. The application of lean methodologies to more complex processes, especially those that are considered “knowledge work,” is sometimes met with more cynicism. However, through a strict adherence to standard work principles, even complex care delivery programs, such as those involved in the delivery of high-risk surgical procedures, can see a benefit. In this chapter, we discuss a brief history of lean process improvement in healthcare and provide specific case examples of how to implement this approach for everything from simple to complex care delivery programs. In today’s value-driven healthcare economy, these principles will become increasingly important to all those engaged in the delivery of care to patients with complex healthcare needs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Michael A. Bohl

  2. Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Gary S. Kaplan

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  1. Michael A. Bohl
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  2. Gary S. Kaplan
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Correspondence to Gary S. Kaplan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Institute, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Rajiv K. Sethi

  2. Neuroscience Institute, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Anna K. Wright

  3. Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Michael G. Vitale

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Bohl, M.A., Kaplan, G.S. (2020). Using Lean Process Improvement to Enhance Safety and Value. In: Sethi, R., Wright, A., Vitale, M. (eds) Value-Based Approaches to Spine Care . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31946-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31946-5_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-31946-5

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